Education
Brief Bio
Dr. Edson Costa-Filho is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering and PhD Graduate
Coordinator in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the South
Dakota Mines, specializing in ecohydrology and satellite remote sensing. His expertise
is on topics related to environmental fluid mechanics, hydraulic engineering, and
ecohydrological systems.
Dr. Costa-Filho is an active member in ASCE, ASA, CSSA, and SSSA societies, chairs
the ACS Undergraduate Advisory Committee (SSSA), and reviews for leading academic
journals such as Agricultural Water Management, Agronomy Journal, and Journal of Irrigation
and Drainage Engineering. His scholarly impact and service have earned him the 2025
ICID Best Paper Award and back-to-back ASCE Outstanding Peer-Reviewer Awards (2023
and 2024).
Research Expertise
Dr. Costa-Filho’s work is at the forefront of developing and applying cutting-edge
modeling techniques in ecohydrology and remote sensing, aimed at enhancing sustainable
water management practices across scales. His research interests include ecohydrology,
where he explores the interactions between vegetation and the water cycle; environmental
biophysics, where he investigates the physical processes that govern energy and water
vapor exchanges in natural environments; and the remote sensing of water resources,
using high spatial and temporal
resolution satellite imagery to improve water management practices. His work provides
new insights into the spatial dynamics of water resources under varying local and
regional conditions.
Teaching
As an 2025 ASCE ExCEEd Fellow, Dr. Costa-Filho applies innovative pedagogical methods to teach foundational and emerging topics in water-resources engineering. He teaches a wide range of water-resources engineering, which includes the following listed courses: Hydraulic Systems Design, Fluid Mechanics, Open Channel Flow, Statistical Hydrology, and Principles of Ecohydrology.